Duchess Character Guide

The Duchess is a support rogue. This Nightfarer deftly weaves in and out of combat, restaging her allies' damage to devastating effect. As a Dexterity/Intelligence/Faith class, she is proficient with weapons like Daggers and Curved Swords. Additionally, she can wield Glintstone Sorceries or Incantations with great effect. Duchess does not have much health, so she needs to use her mobility to slip behind bosses to avoid their attacks. This Duchess Character guide covers the Relics, Talismans, Armaments, and playstyle for this unique Nightfarer.

The Duchess has a powerful class-specific mod; Dagger chain attack reprises event upon nearby enemies. Use this to reprise damage for your entire party, bolstering their output. This is easy to trigger if you wield 2 daggers. The next best Relic mod is lowering your Character Skill cooldown so you can Restage more frequently for reprisal damage. Look for a relic modifier that adds a status like Frostbite, Blood Loss, or Poison to your starting weapon. This gives you a huge advantage in the early game and leaves you with an item that can be upgraded to remain useful throughout your run. Another powerful option is the Night of the Miasma Relic obtained by defeating Fissure in the Fog. Attributes like Vigor, Dexterity, Intelligence, and Faith are useful. Lastly, you can improve Skill damage, Stance Breaking, or damage with specific weapons, affinities, Incantations, and Sorceries. For a more in-depth explanation on how Relics work, check out our Relic and Relic Rites Guide.

Teardrop Scarabs can be found throughout Limveld and always drop a talisman when killed. Look for Talismans that boost your health to offset Duchess's low Vigor. You can also use things like the Winged Sword Insignia or Millicent's Prosthesis to gain a significant damage boost. The Lord of Blood's Exultation provides damage whenever you proc Blood Loss (pair this with a good status dagger). Use a Green Turtle Talisman to ensure you have plenty of stamina to continue your attack chains. Defensively, look out for a Pearldrake Talisman to bolster your damage mitigation. If you're using spells, Radagon Icon is a great choice as it accelerates your spellcasting, reducing the risk of you being locked in animations. Also, keep an eye out for the Carian Filigreed Crest as it lowers your FP consumption.

A good rule of thumb is to grab whatever weapon (of the appropriate type) that gives you the biggest number. But there are some weapons that stand above the rest. Many of your weapons come from the rewards for defeating greater foes, but Merchants and Weapon racks are also very valuable. Forts have a weapon rack that gives Staves and Great Churches give Seals. Either of these can give you a major advantage in the early game, or a weapon that you can upgrade with Smithing Stones and keep till the Nightlord. Sorcerers' Rises are also a good way to get Staves if you can solve the puzzle quickly.

You should also check Merchants (especially those that appear at the Castle or in a Township) as they have a chance to carry rare and powerful weapons. These can be a bit expensive, but are absolutely worth it.

Daggers

Dual Daggers are perfect for Duchess, they trigger her unique Relic passive so that she can continually Restage damage while also building up Statuses on the enemy. The best options are weapons that inflict Blood Loss and/or Frostbite. A great example is a Cold dagger, which deals magic damage (scaling better off of Intelligence) and rapidly procs both Frostbite and Bleed. If you can find them, Reduvia and the Black Knife are also excellent choices. Don't be afraid to keep a good early game weapon, and use Smithing Stones from a Tunnel, or the Crater's forge to upgrade it into something you can use for the entire run.

Other Martial Weapons

If you don't have a reprisal Relic, you can also use other Dexterity weapons, including Katanas, Rapiers, Curved Swords, Curved Greatswords, and Claws. A good rule of thumb is to look for something that deals Magic damage or inflicts an ailment. The Moonveil is a standout example of this as it scales well off of Dexterity and Intelligence, inflicts Blood Loss, and has a ranged weapon Skill which the Duchess can use to deal damage from a safe distance.

Dexterity weapons with a relatively low stamina cost are easy for the Duchess to use due to her passive. Some examples include the Antspur Rapier, Scavenger's Curved Sword, and Grave Scythe. There are also powerful status weapons like Rivers of Blood, Morgott's Cursed Sword, and Eleonora's Poleblade that, while rarer, are exceptionally powerful.

While a bit more niche, it's perfectly viable to grab a bow on Duchess and use it to attack from range when a boss runs away from you or to revive a downed ally.

Glintstone Staves

Due to her high Intelligence, the Duchess can use Glintstone Staves with ease. However, she does not have an inherent way to recover FP. This means either using the spells to burst an enemy down or getting a weapon passive that recovers your FP as you attack or kill enemies. Keep an eye out for spells like Glintblade Phalanx, Night Comet, or Rancorcall.

Faith Weapons

The Duchess also has high enough Faith scaling to use Incantations and Faith-based weapons. You can provide buffs to your allies with spells like Golden Vow, Heal them using a Finger Seal, or take offensive Incantations like Lightning Spear and Flame Sling. If you can't find a good Intelligence weapon, look for a weapon with the Fire, Lightning, or Holy attributes.

Weapon Passives

All equipment found has a passive effect, most of which are active regardless of whether the item is equipped or not. For Duchess, take items that help her sustain FP or reward her for consecutive attacks. The equipment doesn't have to be weapons typical to the character; on Duchess, a Hammer's passive is just as strong as a Dagger's passive. Additionally, take passives that give a defensive bonus, which helps against the selected Nightlord. There are only six equipment slots, so use them wisely. If a passive effect has this hand symbol, that means it is only active while you are using the weapon.

This passive applies while wielding the weapon.

Duchess usually uses weapons with high attack speed, making it easy for her to capitalize on effects that trigger off successive attacks. An example of this is the HP Restoration upon Successive Attacks +3 in the picture above. One of the best modifiers you can get is Damage Negation upon Successive Attacks, as it provides significant mitigation and Duchess attacks quickly enough to give it a high uptime. FP on Kill is also good, as it gives you a lot of freedom to use spells and weapon skills to dispatch weaker foes. Lastly, keep an eye out for weapons with Periodical Glintblades. toss one in your off-hand while exploring, and watch the Glintblades take out weaker enemies for you.

Duchess leverages her mobility to quickly move to the next objective. She can often run to treasure chests and open them for the rest of the team. Her passive lowers the stamina cost for both attacking and dodging. Her evade window is also larger than the other characters. As a squishy melee character, you need to position yourself carefully. Run behind enemies to execute a critical hit. Dagger attacks don't do much poise damage, so you should try to let an ally take aggro before engaging with foes.

Character Skill

Duchess has a unique character skill, Restage. This triggers a restage of recent occurrences on the enemy, inflicting 50% of the damage they took. These hits contribute to Stance Breaking and Ailment buildup. All damage an enemy takes is reprised, therefore, you should coordinate with your allies and use Restage after they use high-damage moves such as Ultimate Arts. Here are a few examples of how to maximize Restage:

• After Wylder uses Onslaught Stake, Restage to Stance Break the boss.
• Attack with a Blood Loss weapon, then Restage to trigger the bleed effect, dealing heavy damage.
• When your ally deals a Critical Hit, Restage the damage.

Ultimate Art

Her ultimate art, Finale, cloaks the Duchess and her nearby allies. This doesn't do damage but provides you with unique opportunities to escape from sticky situations, bring an ally back from the brink of death, or ambush foes. If you attack enemies in this state, they learn your location, and some enemies have stealth detection, so approach these foes with caution. You can also take advantage of the stealth to sneak around an enemy to land a critical hit, or stand back and ambush them with magic from afar (Night Comet in particular excels here).

Summary

The Duchess is a rogue-like Nightfarer who often plays a support role, using her Restage skill to inflict statuses and magnify the party's damage. This makes her a great choice for weapons that inflict Frostbite or Blood Loss. Thanks to her Magnificent Poise, she can easily evade attacks or reposition behind foes to land a critical hit.

• Use Relics that give her access to statuses or enhance her Character Skill.
• Look for Status weapons, with a preference for Daggers.
• Restage at the right time to amplify your allies' strongest attacks.
• Learn more about the Weapons, Talismans, Relics, and Passives available by browsing our Database!

Credits

Written by: Tenkiei
Reviewed by: IBoilerUp